Her tastes primarily align with subversive voices like Eric André and Sacha Baron Cohen, but Todd Phillips' 2019 box office hit 'Joker' captured the heart of alternative comedian Vera Drew.
“Warner Bros. made a Batman movie about class struggle, the mental health crisis, and the fact that our urban structures and government systems are completely failing us,” she said.
She dismissed other ideas, even though some in the audience could see the moral of the story: “White men, disenfranchised men, are oppressed.”
“As a trans woman, I resonated with that,” she said. “My family system failed me. My government still continues to disappoint me, and for some reason I still have to pay taxes next month. I just related to the core element of wanting to make art and putting myself out there. How can you do that in a system that is so tightly controlled and so much of it is just a propaganda vehicle?”
That's what motivated Drew to create a completely original and subversive feature film with “The People's Joker,” which opens Friday. She stars as Harlequin Joker, a young trans woman who leaves her small town to make it in the world of comedy. The film is filled with characters that parody key Batman figures, including the Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Riddler, and Mister Freeze, adding a superhero dimension to this coming-of-age story.
In Hollywood, Drew has had a blast working on the work of alternative comedy idols like André, Nathan Fielder, Tim Robinson, Scott Aukerman, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Tim and Eric. His were mostly editing projects that required specific timing to perfect the offbeat humor. But helping these comedians perfect their voices only forced Drew to sharpen his own.
“I always wore a dress whenever I did stand-up. It was the same before I came out,” she said. “I was a straight guy who was constantly attracted to me. Comedy was a safe space for me to explore these things. But it also kept me in an ironic space. I reached the peak of my ‘irony addiction’ in 2019. Here I realized that I had to deal with not only coming out as a trans woman in alternative comedy, but also how this informed my identity and may have informed misconceptions about who I am. .”
As a lifelong Batman fan who directed, co-wrote, starred in and edited “The People’s Joker,” Drew knew he could tell his story by remixing iconic DC Comics characters under the umbrella of parody and fair use. 2022 festival season released. Those heroes and villains represented much more to her journey than just what graced the pages of a comic book.
“The power of these characters is like modern mythology,” she said. “Myths belong to the people, to reflect themselves in big, grand, bold, colorful archetypes so they can understand their role and place in society. “It’s a fandom I share with people who have very different political and social views than me.”
When asked if some comic book fans might balk at seeing their favorite character interpreted in 'The People's Joker,' Drew said he believes he's even evoked mixed feelings in the transgender community. But she believes complexity is the perfect conversation starter for modern America.
“It’s our well-meaning allies who will say, ‘Why would you make the Joker a trans woman?’ Do you think she is a good role model? 'How do you create queer villains in these times when we need stories that shine a positive light on us?' It seems like a villain to me. I am villainized, politicized, and turned into a symbol simply because of my identity. Some people think that just because I was assigned the wrong gender at birth and have accepted it, I am a political activist or a symbol of their oppression. For me, I had no choice but to make a film about a queer villain at this point. Because I was completely villainized and my community was completely villainized. So it was important to me to do that.”
Watch the trailer for “The People’s Joker” below: